


The Heiress of Slytherin

by desperatelynerdy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Multi, non canon characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:41:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desperatelynerdy/pseuds/desperatelynerdy
Summary: What if Tom Riddle had not been the only heir to Salazar Slytherin?





	1. To better days

Hannah Andersen kept having that dreadful nightmare. She was all alone in a graveyard, in the middle of a full moon night. She was wondering where her twin sister could be. She was wondering where she was. Was it just a dream? It felt real. She would wake up shivering for the chill would have crawled under her skin, she would still smell that there had been raining the night before. She would remember some names on the graves. Marvolo. Who was Marvolo? She would remember the sound of the slithering snake, there were trees behind her, she didn't know why she couldn't turn her head to see them but she could hear the creaking of the dead leaves under the slithering. She could hear the snake, she could understand it, that's why she doubted it was real.  
''The heiress has died, the heiress was no heiress at all, she tried to claim her seat and like her, you're going to die.''  
The snake would appear and stand, endless length in front of her tiny body. Then she would hear a weak voice tell the formidable creature to make an end to the useless clairvoyant. 

Hannah and Emily Andersen were two happy little girls born on the same night. They lived with their two parents in a huge house which had belonged to the Andersens since the earliest days of civilisation and which their father had inherited very early in his life. Their father, Anthony Andersen, a powerful auror, had a sister, Cora, who had married a muggle on their second birthday. From that day, life had changed at home for their mother Sarah didn't agree with the idea of marrying a man who had no pure-blood, no magic in his veins. Happy became sad and sometimes frightening for bedtime stories transformed into bad times and fights, for family meals changed into lonely meals and Hannah nightmares started.  
Her father would say they were just nightmares, who wasn't scared of giant snakes? Her mother would ask for more details, she would ask her daughter to force herself to plunge more intendedly into the dream world that crept her out. She would tell Emily to hear carefully the words her twin sister might say during her sleep and nightmares became day-traps that would stop Hannah in a middle of a conversation or a game.  
''What did she say at that moment?'' would Sarah ask Emily.  
''She said nothing, she just froze and she fell down with her eyes open when I pushed her to wake her up,'' answered Emily once.  
''I said no waking up, Emily!''  
''But I was scared!'' four-year-old Emily answered. ''I thought she would never wake up.''

They heard their parents talk about rumours, talk about the outside world. They had a nanny, and there were the cook and the maid, so they would never leave the house. Something was happening that the adults were trying to talk about when they were not listening. They knew they were hiding something from them. One morning, Hannah woke up saying she had a different and brand new nightmare. The cook would burn alive.  
''It's only a nightmare, it can't be!''  
''Mama was there, and she was not helping.''  
''As I said, a nightmare!''  
Yet it happened. And the fights got bigger. And her nightmares more and more detailed, more and more frightening, and the snake would always come to her at the end.

One morning, Emily and Hannah were running to the garden. It was a fine day of summer and flowers carpeting the garden so they had decided to go out to make a huge bouquet without asking for permission. They were running down the stairs when Hannah stopped. Emily hesitated, she called for her sister and she got scared when tears starting rolling down her twin's cheeks. Their mother had always been a strange woman, with her long blond hair that only Emily inherited and her dark grey eyes that would always be glancing at you when you least expected it, with her distance, her harsh words and her anger trying to escape her long and arachnid body. She would be very angry to know she had tried to wake Hannah. She could not leave her sister trapped in her head like that, suffering. Her eyes were getting red and Emily felt tears rolling down her own cheeks. She could wake her up and Hannah could lie, she could say she didn't wake her up. But they were in the house. Their mother could come out of nowhere, a maid too even though they had scarcely showed up since the cook died.  
Hannah eventually sighed and opened up to reality. Their blue eyes were bluer than ever on Hannah's face, Emily thought. A brown strand of hair was stuck on her forehead, she had been suffering for a fever during that long minute.  
''Hannah are you alright?'' asked Emily. ''What did you see?''  
''The saddest man in the world.''  
''Who is he?''  
''I don't know. He was crying. He was holding a woman in his arms and she was dead.''  
''He must have loved her very much.''  
''He was so sad.''  
''Was it just that? The saddest man in the world? Didn't the snake come back to you again?''  
''There was another name on the tombs. Morfin. And there were green flashes of light, and a skull in the clouds, and a baby, a little boy with green eyes, he had a scar, it was shaped like a flash of thunder.''  
''Do you think it will happen?''  
''I have no idea.''  
The saddest man of the world came back every night from that day. Emily would see the trace of tears on her sister's cheeks every morning. Their mother would soon after leave one evening asking them to be quiet and ready to hide. She would come back for them she had said before dissolving into the air, would she? Three days passed and one morning Hannah woke up saying she had only dreamed she was trapped into a closet. It was October 31st, they had carved pumpkins with their father during the day, eating Bott's Flavoured Beans. All the staff had left, there was just the three of them in that big medieval house. They spent the day as though nothing was wrong, it was a quiet day. The night was slowly stealing light and a man knocked at the door, leaving the main room empty of their father. The minute he left, their mother appeared.  
''Mama!'' both the girls exclaimed.  
The woman had changed. She looked tired. Her dark cloak was torn and seemed to have had many misadventures. She glared at them, took Emily into her arms without further ado and pulled Hannah by the shoulder to a corner of the room. She pushed the wooden panels that covered the walls of the main room and a hidden door opened. Both the girls were delighted by the surprise despite the obvious danger that was planning above their head. Their mother made Hannah turn around and she knelt to look into her eyes.  
''Shush! Not a noise, not a move, you don't answer to your father and you don't try to leave that place before I come to fetch you first. Promise me.''  
Hannah nodded.  
''What about you?'' she dared to ask.  
Her mother didn't answer, she pushed her inside, turning the head at the sound of coming steps and darkness swallowed the little girl who remembered her last nightmare.  
''Emily? Hannah? Girls, where are you?'' Hannah heard behind the wooden wall. There was light in that small prison, a hole in the wood. Hannah leaned her forehead against the door to peep through the hole. She saw her father walk back to the hallway, calling them again. Could she answer? Would she see Emily again if she kept her promise? She was confused. Her father came back, distressed. Her heart sank. She loved her father very much. He was kind to them, he loved them more than anyone on Earth, more than he loved their mother and more than she loved them. She hold her breath. She was torn. She could not make him so unhappy but danger was coming, she felt it, he could die trying to protect her, no? She had no more time to dwell on it, her mother reappeared in the middle of the room.  
''You!'' he said, suddenly angry.  
''Me,'' she answered calmly.  
''Where are they?''  
''Who?''  
''Don't play that game with me, I'm tired of you and your games.''  
''I'm not playing games, Anthony, it's happening, now. You chose your side months ago. Years ago.''  
''They are my daughters, leave them alone, leave them to me.''  
''They're my daughters too, and much more important to the world than to both of us.''  
''What have you done?'' he asked desperately.  
She didn't answer at once. He couldn't speak. Hannah suddenly couldn't breathe. Was Emily dead? Would have she felt it as the maid once said?  
''Where are they?'' he repeated. Hannah was ready to answer but she didn't know whether he would hear her. Her mother had taken her wand out of her robes and was now pointing it at him. Hannah opened her mouth but no sound could get out.  
''We don't need you anymore.''  
''What are you talking about, you filthy bitch?''  
''Swear words now?''  
''You're rotten from the inside. I've always hoped I could make you better. I should have left you where I found you.''  
''You took me as a prize, not as a woman, at least you recognize it.''  
Hannah could not understand what they were talking about, she was staring at the wands they both had in hands. Someone was going to die. She knew the three forbidden spells, she knew what the green light meant. She had seen one flash of it through the doors of the closet in her dream and like the cook who was burning, this one was more than a dream.  
''I'm not just a woman, you're right, but I'm not a prize, I'm not an object and I won't let anyone else think of me as such anymore. I'm the heiress of a long lost but powerful dynasty and I'm not going to let anyone stop me.''  
''What are you even talking about? Your family is worth nothing. You don't even know who your father is. Your mother hated you...''  
''I know who my father was and I got rid of that old bag centuries ago, leave it. I'm talking of now. I'm talking of a throne I'm getting back.''  
He laughed. He just laughed at her. She let him. Hannah could not see her face, she was turning her back to her. Was it angry? Would she hurt him? Sometimes she made snakes appear so that she would get scared and would stop acting silly. She could hurt him, she could burn him alive as she did the cook, Hannah thought.  
''Your mother was crazy and so are you! I've known it since you started listening to Hannah's dreams as though they were premonitions. You pushed your own daughter to believe she could foresee. You believed her though you didn't listen carefully, isn't it? Don't you remember? The heiress has died, the heiress was no heiress at all, she tried to claim her seat and like her you're going to die. You've made her repeat so many times I know it by heart. You're useless, Sarah, You're no heiress and you're just trying to make yourself feel important. Tell me where you've hidden them and leave that madness behind you and I'll forgive you.''  
''I don't need your forgiveness.'' She spat on the floor.  
It must have made him very bitter for he stopped smiling. He pointed his wand with more determination.  
''And maybe I don't need you to find them again.''  
''Are you going to kill me, Anthony Andersen?''  
''Once you asked me whether I would marry you the very same way.''  
''Once you sounded like you were a very sensitive man.''  
They kept talking. Their tone was growing furious. She would not tell him what he wanted. He would not listen to her accusations. Hannah closed her eyes. She hid her ears behind her hands but that would not do. Something smashed.  
''How dare you?'' Her mother said. They were ready to attack. Did her father attacked first? She still had her wand in hands, she was quicker than him, she always had been.  
''You're the heiress to darkness and darkness won't win tonight, you must have been come back earlier, you would have heard your daughter's last premonition,'' he said.  
Hannah felt ashamed. She had always thought her father agreed with her mother's opinion on her dreams, she had thought he loved her and didn't think she was crazy. Did she hear her father say it in her dream? Did she foresee the end of her own mother without knowing it? It killed her the same moment the spell took her mother's life from her. The body fell on the floor in a thud. Hannah stepped back, the bottom of the hidden closet stopped her. Tears were running down her cheeks. Her mother had always frightened her in her way to speak to her, to demand, to push, to harass, to force, yet her father was scaring her more now, he had lied, he was going to kill her too maybe.  
A man appeared in the room some minutes later. It woke Hannah from a motionless contemplation she hadn't felt. Her father was still standing in the middle of the room, he was staring at the body of his former wife. Was he regretting it? Realizing what he had done?  
''What have you done?'' the man asked.  
''Who are you?''  
The man smirked. Slowly he turned to Anthony Andersen and pointed his wand to him.  
''Someone told me you would fight the Dark Lord to death,'' he giggled.  
''Who are you? One of his minions?'' Anthony asked, ready to defend himself.  
Other people appeared in the room, circling him. The first man to appear licked his lips.  
''I came to accomplish your dearest will, fighting the Dark Lord to death.''  
Hannah didn't know how she left the house to land on the freezing glass of a small house's yard in the middle of a village she had never come to. She didn't walk, she knew it. Yet she knew only grown-ups could travel like this. Did someone make her apparate? She had a look around, there was no one. The front door of the house was open and she was cold. She felt like she had a nightmare and was having a new one except this time it felt more real when she stood up and felt the bruise on her back. This was no neighbouring village. This could be a trap. Maybe the hidden closet was magic and meant for her to travel to a safe place as her mother seemed to mean. She walked slowly to the house and opened the door more. A man was lying there, dead. He had glasses and very dark hair. She shivered. There was light upstairs, and she could hear someone. Was it safe? A dead man was lying in front of her. She hesitated. Then she heard something outside, something that reminded her of a snake and she decided that closing the door and going upstairs would be safer.  
And there he was. The saddest man in the world. She remained here for a long moment, beholding the painful scene of that man who was crying over the still body of his beloved. Then she saw it, the baby boy, sitting in his bed, his eyes still full of tears, his cheeks red and the scar, shaped like a flash of thunder.  
''The scar...'' she whispered, still hidden in the darkness of the hallway.  
The saddest man in the world startled and stared at her as though he had seen her somewhere else before too. She waited. Would he be angry? Would he kill her?  
''Who are you?'' he eventually asked.  
''Hannah.''  
''Hannah who?''  
Never tell anyone your name, her father had said. She didn't answer. He eventually understood she would not answer his question.  
''What are you doing here?'' he asked instead.  
''I don't really know. I was home and then... I was here.''  
He looked as though he was expecting someone else to rush out of the hallway. She turned around, looking back, checking she was right to feel safe.  
''You came alone.''  
''Yes. But I've already come to this moment several times, in my dreams.''  
He frowned.  
''The baby had the scar,'' she pointed at him.  
''You foresaw this place?''  
''I foresaw this moment. I foresaw you. And her, in your arms, and the baby. Is he your baby?''  
He was not happy she said that, she could tell. She didn't add anything. He eventually decided to let the woman rest on the floor and stood up.  
''What's your name?'' she asked.  
''Where's your family? It's not a place nor a moment to be all alone. How old are you?''  
''I'll soon be five.''  
''You don't sound like you're five.''  
''I know.''  
He sighed.  
''I'm going to bring you to a safe place, where people are going to take care of you then.''  
''Where?''  
He stepped forward in silence and she felt scared, she stepped back as he hold out his hand and the walls around her disappeared. It had never been like this, she had never intervened into her dreams, were they dreams then? Was her mother actually dead or was she going to wake up in a world in which nothing had changed? She was falling. It wouldn't stop. It was too dark to know where. And suddenly she crashed on a floor that broke and swallowed her with a breath as freezing as death. Water rushed inside her. It was burning her cold, she tried to fight it, she tried to escape, she couldn't see where the exit was. She couldn't breathe. Was she going to die here in those dark waters? She stopped fighting. Why didn't she foresee that? She remembered the snake, almost relieved it would never be able to get her, when something grasped her and pulled her out. Air hugged her, a freezing kiss on the back of her neck, she heard voices and had a last thought for the giant snake that would never eat her.

''I think she's waking up,'' Hannah heard Emily say.  
''She's been moving and dreaming a lot, it doesn't mean she won't wake up but it means she may not wake up right now.'' Hannah heard a woman say.  
Who was she? She felt warm, she was in a soft and big bed, under heavy blankets and it smelled like sweets and hot chocolate.  
''She talked in her dreams last night,'' Emily added.  
''Oh, what did she say?''  
''I don't remember.''  
Hannah sighed. She wanted to open her eyes but her eyelids were too heavy. She moved her hand.  
''Aunt Cora, she moved her hand.''  
She felt the hand of her sister grasp hers and hold tight.  
''Please Hannah, wake up!''  
Hannah did.  
''Hannah!''  
She saw the smile of her sister and her blond braided hair and the nice face of her aunt Cora. When did she see her for the last time? She was just how she remembered her, kind in her eyes as in her heart.  
''Darling, can you hear us?''  
''You're safe now!'' Emily said.  
''Hannah, can you hear us?'' Aunt Cora repeated.  
Hannah nodded. Her aunt smiled. She caressed her cheek softly. Her mother would never do that, Hannah thought. Then she remembered.  
''Mother,'' she whispered.  
Both their face looked suddenly grave.  
''You're in my house darling, you're safe. Everything is over, no more war, no more people who want to hurt other people, they all have been stopped. They're either in jail or dead.''  
''So are our parents,'' Emily added.  
Aunt Cora looked both sad and embarrassed.  
''I'm sorry you have to know it now, sweetheart.''  
''But you still have me!'' Emily said.  
Hannah smiled tiredly.  
''I'm sorry,'' Aunt Cora said, taking her other hand. ''How do you feel darling? Tired? Hungry?''  
Hannah nodded again.  
''Do you want to eat before going back to sleep again?''  
''Uncle Eddie baked a cake, it's delicious! And he didn't use any magic! It felt like magic!''  
Uncle Eddie would amaze them each day of the following years with his abilities to do things without using a wand. It would make them humble. He would be there, helping their Aunt Cora to make them smile again and to educate them. Bedtime stories would be back, they would learn how to play music with the tip of their fingers and sing and they would travel around the world too, a new world opened to them that day they became the two little girls of Cora and Edward Raven.  
''I can't believe it's here!'' Aunt Cora would say when walking to the dining room where everybody was having breakfast at the beginning of the summer of their eleventh year.  
''What is it?'' Emily asked.  
''Your admission letters to Hogwarts!''  
The girls hold their breath while their aunt gave them their respective letter.  
''Oh my god, I can't believe it's happening,'' Aunt Cora repeated when sitting next to her husband. He took her hand to comfort her.  
''Did you study there, Aunt Cora?'' Hannah asked. They would have talked about Hogwarts, yes, but not thoroughly.  
''Yes! And so did your father.''  
''And our mother?'' Emily asked.  
Aunt Cora hesitated.  
''I actually don't know. I don't remember her there. No, your parents met after Anthony left school. I don't know where she studied. She could have had a preceptor at home, she came from a rich family.''  
''Are there other schools for witches?'' Hannah asked. Their mother could have studied abroad too.  
''Yes, in France and... other countries.''  
''Oh.''  
''How was it?'' Emily asked.  
''Nice! There are four houses, I must have told you that earlier. There is a whole ceremony in your first day, with a hat that would sort you into the different houses according to your personality, or rather according to what your heart feels.''  
Edward was listening to Cora as intendedly as his nieces.  
''There are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. I was in Ravenclaw and so were your father. Usually families keep going to the same house. Our parents were Ravenclaw and so were their parents before them.''  
''The school must be very old!'' Emily laughed.  
It made Aunt Cora laugh too.  
''What do Ravenclaw's students' hearts feel?'' Hannah asked.  
The girls had grown up and as years were passing they became two very different ladies. Life had made them older than they actually were. Hannah would be the sensitive one whereas Emily would always try to find a way to make people laugh and smile. She was the sun and Hannah the moon. They were like two sides of a same person, Edward would say. Hannah kept having those strange nightmares that used to be premonitions, the snake was still there, haunting her and she still woke up in the middle of the night witnessing for yet another time the death of both her parents. She had to attend the trial of Barty Crouch Junior as the memory they took from her showed his face clearly. Cora couldn't understand why she chose to hide Emily in a safe house and leave her other daughter hidden in a cupboard in a place she knew would soon be raided by Death Eaters. Was she coming back for Hannah? Why couldn't she take both of them at the same time? Something was wrong in what happened, why would they kill her? She was one of them, even Crouch shouted it as he was yelling at the little girl Eddie was holding in his arms. He said he only killed Anthony, Sarah was already dead. Cora never liked Sarah, she never understood her, she always thought she was crazy, after all she had murdered the nurse who was attending her while giving birth to her daughters. She could understand Anthony would kill her, she would have deserved it maybe, yet it was not what Hannah's memory showed and one cannot change a memory so easily.  
''Ravenclaw students are said to be witty and hard-working.''  
''Papa was!'' Emily exclaimed. ''And so are you. Uncle Eddie you might have ended up into this house!''  
''Hufflepuff students are rather loyal and generous.''  
''Aren't Ravenclaws too?'' Hannah asked.  
''I guess it's more complex than they present it.''  
''What about the two others?'' Emily asked.  
''Gryffindor students are brave and daring.''  
''This is not us,'' Emily said.  
''Slytherins... they are... ambitious.''  
Silence fell. The girls were dwelling on the news.  
''I hope I'll be in Ravenclaw like you and Papa. I wonder where Mama would have been.'' Emily said.  
''I would say Slytherin...'' Cora eventually said.  
''You might be right,'' Emily said gravely.  
Everyone looked at her gravely. What was that tone?  
''What?'' she asked the three baffled looks staring at her.  
''Nothing,'' Cora said. ''Anyway, you're going to meet a lot of young wizards and witches, you'll have new friends, you'll learn much more than we would ever be able to teach you here and we're going to miss you a lot!''


	2. The path and the crossroad

It had been a long worrying summer. They had been to the south of France to rest but Hannah would not find peace at night even though she could now control herself and prevent herself from howling in the middle of a dream. Their uniforms were ready, as their books and wands. It had been harder for Emily to get one. The wands would crack open in her hand and make objects explode and Mr. Ollivander had to make a special one for her.  
''Your sister and your mother in the same person,'' he had whispered.   
''My father and my mother in the same person maybe,'' Emily had suggested.  
''What was in our mother's wand?'' Hannah had asked.  
''A snake's horn,'' he had said gravely, looking at her with that cold scrutinizing look.  
Hannah's wand was made of Thestral hair. The girls knew about those creatures that only Hannah could see, those horse-like creatures that only people who had seen death could see. The wand-maker had looked both impressed and puzzled but after dragon and unicorn's core not answering her touch, he had no choice.   
''You're two very special witches, girls,'' he had said.  
''Of course, we are!'' Had Emily exclaimed happily.  
''Maybe I'll go to Gryffindor or Slytherin,'' she had said while leaving the old shop.  
''Why do you say that?'' Hannah had asked.  
''I feel more and more confident, in the wrong way maybe.''  
''Ravenclaws can be confident. Those houses's repartitions are somewhat stupid, it doesn't mean anything, really.''  
''I hope we'll be together though.''  
''We should have asked that man about our mother, he used to know her,'' Hannad had added.  
''Why didn't you?''  
''I don't know, he frightened me, the way he looked at us.''  
Their aunt and uncle's house was a big one in the middle of the countryside near London, they had some wizard's neighbours like the Diggorys and the Weasleys who lived in a more modest house. Some of the Weasley boys already studied in Hogwarts and Percy Weasley was going there for the first time as well. Cedric had to wait one more year.  
''I think Diggory is going to Gryffindor!'' Emily would tell Percy.  
''You're going to Gryffindor,'' Hannah would tell him.  
''I would be the first Weasley not to go if that wasn't the case.''  
''That's not like you to stand out!'' Emily commented.  
''Charlie could have!''  
''I hope Cedric will not be in my house though,'' Percy would add, ''we're not really friends.''  
And they carried on talking and imagining their near future until the D-Day. Emily couldn't sleep because she was too excited, Hannah too frightened. Her dreams had become worst. It seemed she wouldn't die in the graveyard. She foresaw herself in a sort of hospital in a church-like room and she remembered Hogwarts was an old castle that could have reminded one of an old church. She foresaw herself in a bed, facing a window on which a red rose was painted. Her aunt and the saddest man in the world trying to heal her, other people trying to help, and the life slowly leaving her, relief embracing her.  
''There is no giant snake nor any graveyard around Hogwarts, sweetheart, I promise you. I've been there seven years and I know it hasn't changed, I can really promise this to you,'' her Aunt Cora said as they were eventually waiting for the train to Hogwarts in the middle of a crowded platform.  
''I will prevent any snake to come to you, especially a giant one. You know snakes obey me!'' Emily added. They had discovered they could speak to snakes during the summer. After all, Hannah could understand the giant one in her dreams! Their Aunt had said their mother probably could, her family's past and origins had always been very hard to grasp, they knew nothing of it except she was rich, pure of blood and hated them all.  
''I wrote a letter to the Headmaster, professor Dumbledore whom I know, I've told him about your visions and... your fears, and abilities. You would be able to talk to him if you need, and to teachers, and you'll write to me, I'll write to you and you'll be back for Christmas and all those nightmares would have disappeared because you're going to be so excited about all the new things that you would forget all about it.''  
''I am so excited!'' Emily added.  
''I hope it will stop,'' Hannah whispered.  
''It will, I'm sure of it,'' her Aunt Cora said, determined.  
''The train is coming!'' Emily exclaimed. ''Hannah, you'll be alright, I promise again, I'll take care of you!''  
Hannah felt a knot in her stomach. She had a look at her uncle who had that kind smile. He hugged her once more. He fitted in on that platform whereas she was feeling lost and bereft. What a strange day. She wished she had foreseen that moment to brace herself to it.   
''Have a safe journey darling, enjoy your school year and come back to us with a light heart.'' Aunt Cora said.

They met newbies in the train, all were wondering what house would be theirs, all had something to tell about what they heard of Hogwarts and its professors and soon some left for their neighbour seemed not to be a proper witch. Who didn't know about moving pictures and living chocolate frogs!  
''What?'' Emily protested. ''They might be more powerful than you! Watch it!''  
''This one would surely end up in Slyhterin.'' Someone whispered.   
''Why?'' Hannah asked.  
''Don't you know?''  
The girls had met many wizards at their table but it seemed that they had missed an important piece of witchcraft's history.   
''Some people think that only pure-blood should be allowed to use magic, they despise muggles. Those people were followers of You-Know-Who.''  
They knew that. They remembered their mother's opinion on their Uncle Eddie. She used to be one of them.  
''They often end up in Slytherin.''  
''Ravenclaw, please, Ravenclaw,'' Emily hummed, her fingers crossed under her robe. It had been the only incident of the journey. Outside the windows of the train, the landscape was getting wilder and colder. They were heading to Scotland. Aunt Cora hated it, she had said it was the only thing she hated there, the weather, not always bright but so typical! A giant man welcomed them on the platform, calling for the first year only. They took small boats which led them to the huge Castle planted at the top of a hill.   
''Aunt Cora didn't lie, it's a big place,'' Emily commented.  
''Yes.''  
Professor McGonagall introduced herself in the main entrance once they arrived and she explained the sorting hat ceremony before letting them enter the Great Hall. They all hold their breath when they entered the place. The ceiling was disappearing behind clouds and a starred sky. It was beautiful. Their aunt didn't mention it, was it new? Did she let them have the surprise? It might be. Hannah was still smiling when she let her eyes pass from one face to another in the room and stopped on a man she knew and seemed to have recognized her. The saddest man in the world.   
What was he doing here? He was sitting with all the adults at the bottom of the room. Was he working here? Was she going to see him here everyday? Did it mean she would die here, in this very castle, after being bitten by a giant snake, as she thought? She felt it hard to breathe suddenly. She felt a hand take hers. Emily's.  
''Ravenclaw?'' she asked.  
It took time for Hannah to understand what her sister was talking about. People were getting quiet and a strange voice suddenly sang about the different houses of the school. They couldn't see, there were children in front of them taller than them. Hannah kept glancing at the man of her past and future. He had stopped looking at her.  
''Emily Andersen!'' Professor McGonagall called. Emily smiled to her sister before stepping to the small stool that was displayed in front of them. The other had stepped back to let her pass. Professor McGonagall was holding a strange and old hat. Hannah wondered what it was. The sorting hat, she remembered. She tried to focus on what was happening. It was important. It was for Emily so she had to focus. The saddest man in the world would certainly not disappear now, she was not having an hallucination, she was sure of that, he was actually sitting in this room. People cheered. Hannah opened her eyes wide. Emily was radiant. Ravenclaw then? She walked to the long tables where the older Ravenclaw students were already sitting.   
''Hannah Andersen.''  
Hannah remembered that boy in the train who said that Slytherin was founded by a man who could speak the language of snakes. She slowly stepped to the stool. An old man with a very long white beard was standing up behind the table of the adults. The headmaster? He was staring at her behind his half-moon glasses. She remembered her aunt's letter. She blushed. He would think she's mad! She saw Emily at the Ravenclaw's table. Emily and her bright smile and kind heart, her support. She would protect her. She had to go to Ravenclaw too, she thought.  
''Oh, another Andersen.''  
Hannah startled. The hat would talk to you, her Aunt had said. Yes, the hat was talking to her and no one could actually hear.  
''Much different and so similar though. Attached to the leading one, scared of her own self and yet clever, so clever and so clairvoyant. Difficult, difficult, you belong by your blood to another house from the one you wish to join like your sister, your heart speaks a different language though, it is a very powerful heart... so be it.''  
''Ravenclaw!'' he shouted and the crowd around her, but more particularly Emily, cheered. Hannah shyly smiled. She felt relieved despite what the hat said. She joined Emily and the other Ravenclaws, letting a certain Helen Bell take the seat.  
''Welcome, I'm Lauren, I'm your prefect, I'm going to help you around.''  
''Thank you,'' Hannah answered.  
''Your sister was sure you were going to be with us. Are you actual twins? You don't really look like each other. Well, I mean, your hair isn't even the same colour! That's rude, I shouldn't speak to you like that I'm sorry.''  
''Don't worry, people always are very curious about twins! Even in the magic world! It happens,'' Emily said, ''having different hair, but I can assure you we were born from the same parents on the same night. We have some common abilities!''  
''Oh like what?''  
''Like being very good,'' Hannah cut her sister.  
Emily took a questioning look to her sister but said nothing. Ravenclaws at the table cheered again and Lauren focused her attention on the new-comer.   
''What did the hat tell you?'' Hannah asked her sister in a whisper.  
''Not a lot, he told me I was very determined and that I made my decision after many nights of reflexion, which was exactly what a Ravenclaw does so... Ravenclaw! And you?''  
Hannah hesitated. She had another look to the saddest man in the world to check he was still here. She turned to her sister and froze. Her eyes' colour changed for a second. It was their mother's colour. Emily having their mother's hair, it almost felt like she had been here for a second.  
''What?'' Emily asked.   
The blue in her eyes was back. Hannah shook her head slowly, stupefied.  
''What did it tell you? I told you! I could have kept it private too.''  
''He said you were the leading one.''  
''Oh.. I don't know whether I like it. It sounds... pretentious. Am I pretentious? Am I the leading one? I just love you and want to protect you because... I love you and I don't want to lose you. I'm sure you would do the same if I needed you that way, it doesn't make me the leading one.''  
Another boy came to their table. Emily cheered politely.  
''It's Percy's turn! Look! He's the last one. I'm sure he's going to Gryffindor.''

 

They settled in their dormitory, spent the night chatting and were still very enthusiastic to get up for class the next morning. They were having class with the other first year students and Hannah was happy to see Helen Bell again, they had a chat in the train, she was a nice girl. Percy Weasley was there too.  
''Ravenclaw then!'' he told them.  
''I'm always right!'' Emily joked.  
They started with a lesson by professor McGonagall they already knew. Emily liked their lesson of Defense against the Dark Arts and Hannah found out that her saddest man in the world was teaching Potions and was called Severus Snape. They would not see him before the next day. It made her anxious but she was as exhausted as her new friends on their second night and didn't have any dream she remembered of.  
''Let's see who had the curiosity to have a look at their book...'' Severus Snape started without any greetings the next morning.   
Hannah was baffled. He asked several pupils and didn't seem to notice her at all. Emily tried to answer some questions by raising her hand but he never allowed her to speak. He was odious to Helen and shamed Percy. Everybody felt relieved when he dismissed the class.  
''Andersen.'' He called as they were leaving the classroom.  
Both the girls turned around. Emily didn't know why he was calling them, nor which one. She was too impressed to ask.  
''You,'' he said, pointing at Hannah.   
Hannah was petrified. She didn't move. Emily wouldn't go.  
''The saddest man in the world,'' Emily eventually whispered.  
''What?'' The master of potions asked.  
''You're the man my sister saw in her dreams. In her visions. She foresaw you. She told me.''  
Hannah regretted she had told her sister. Emily had promised not to tell anyone. She was the only person knowing she had met her saddest man in the world. Their professor just nodded in silence.   
''Our aunt sent a letter to the Headmaster to tell him about my sister's visions, have you heard of it?''  
''Yes, that's why I needed to talk to your sister.''  
''Oh.''  
Emily understood the rebuke. She turned to her twin and realised she had frozen, her eyes emptied and her heart stopped.   
''Hannah? She is having a vision right now,'' she told Snape. ''Hannah? Please come back to present!''  
She took her sister's arm and hoped for a reaction. Silence fell and eventually Hannah came back to reality.  
''Hannah? Are you alright? What did you see?''  
''A path and a crossroad.''  
''A path and a crossroad?''  
''You and me on a crossroad. And you're holding my hand, and you're saying that you have changed your mind.''  
Emily didn't know what to make of it.  
''What about the giant snake?'' Snape asked.  
Hannah seemed to realise he was here too. She seemed to have forgotten where she had been before having her vision.  
''She still has those visions of a giant snake that comes to kill her. It could be a metaphor though, right? Paths and crossroads are metaphors!'' Emily said.  
''What if it wasn't?'' he asked, still staring at Hannah.  
''What if it isn't then?'' Emily asked.  
''I thought about it, you can survive a snake's bite.''  
''Can you survive a giant snake's bite?'' Emily defied him.  
''We can still try to have you immune to any snake's poison.''  
''Can we?'' Emily asked.  
''It won't be easy, nor painless.''  
Hannah couldn't believe it.   
''I'll let you think of my offer. Then we would have to talk to your tutors with professor Dumbledore.''  
''Why is he so detestable in class and then offering you this?'' Emily exclaimed while they were leaving the room.  
''I don't know.''  
''You must do it! It's going to be painful and dangerous but you must do it.''  
Hannah wasn't sure. She remained silent for the rest of the day. Helen would look at her with curiosity and dismay. She didn't notice, she was too absorbed into her reflexion. Eventually she decided she had to give it a go. The snake came back and once again he bit her in the graveyard and she ended up in that bed. She woke up in the middle of the night covered by sweat. Should she do it? Would it change anything? Visions were visions, future was already written. At least it could save her time, right, it was why it had come to her so recently, to let her know she had to do it, to save her time, time to say goodbye.


	3. The Promise

Aunt Cora sighed. She looked at all those people gathered in professor Dumbledore's office. A strange, big and amazing place. Hannah had soon forgotten about her dismay of having to let her sister out of the room when she entered, there were so many things to look at. Professor Snape was there, so was professor Flinch, head of Ravenclaw. Uncle Eddie had come too. He took Hannah's hand delicately. She looked at him. She knew he wished he could hold her aunt's hand instead. He smiled, trying to be reassuring.  
''It's not that I am against your... offer. I... we! We want the best for the girls. We would try anything to help them through any.. issue! But what you're telling me now frightens me. She is going to suffer, she may even die of it...''  
''I had no vision of me dying in...'' Hannah started to cut her before realising maybe she had the vision of her dying as she tried to fight poison now, not after the attack in the graveyard. She was no longer sure all of a sudden. Her uncle Eddie's hand squeezed hers.  
''What frightens me the most is that, even though I wrote a letter, even though I have never, ever, doubted my niece's visions, a part of me wanted to hear from you that those visions would not happen...''  
Aunt Cora hesitated. Professor Dumbledore took the chance to say a word.  
''Her sister had given many examples of premonitions Hannah had, of premonitions which became reality. Mrs Trelawney...''  
Snape hawked. Dumbledore closed his eyes and seemed to let his thought flee. Hannah had to meet professor Trelawney. The woman scared her. She had looked into her eyes and said she could speak to snakes. Hannah denied it. How could she know? It shamed her. She had hoped Emily didn't say a word about it when professor Dumbledore asked her into her office. She was so proud of it. That was not good yet, she knew it, it was Slytherin's special power, she had found it when doing some research in the library, and Salazar Slytherin was not a man she wanted to be associated with.  
''I think I had hoped it was not real, that it was over. I'm so sorry my darling, we're not even sure it will happen.'' Aunt Cora said.  
''I wondered whether I might stop having this vision if I try it.'' Hannah said.  
''It would mean we won!'' Aunt Cora cheered. ''But it's really dangerous, I don't want you to risk it for a vision we're not even sure would happen.''  
Hannah remembered the cook burning alive in the kitchen, and her mother looking, not trying to stop it, because she did it.  
''Professor Snape, if she accepts, I will not have push her over any limit that would endanger her and kill her.''  
''We'll try it step by step.''  
Hannah felt her stomach knot.  
''Hannah it's still time to say no, or we can try it later, and you can stop it whenever you want, do you understand?''  
Hannah nodded in silence, her throat blocked into a second knot, her face loosing colour and dizziness swallowing her. Then the world around her changed. She never had had dizziness when having a vision before. She recalled the place. She had had this vision before. Yet, it started earlier. She could see Emily, older, so much older. How old was she exactly? How old were they? She didn't know. She was walking on a path. The path. And Hannah was following her, running after her, calling her name. Eventually Emily stopped and turned around. Her blue eyes were shadowed by frowning brows.  
''Emily, where are you going?''  
Emily had put on normal clothes. A long black skirt and a green jumper. Hannah was still wearing her uniform. She felt it. She had her cloak and her tie on.  
''I told you to stay where you were!''  
''I didn't know you would leave for real. That path... that path...''  
She was recollecting the place, the vision.  
''That path?'' Emily asked.  
''You're leaving.''  
''I told you to stay! I made my decision!''  
''You used a forbidden spell against me! How dare you?''  
''How could you fight it so easily?''  
''I don't know! Because I care! I don't want you to go Emily! Not in your condition. You used that spell against me but it's not you! Emily please, fight her!''  
Tears came to Emily's eyes as she pinched her lips.  
''It's too late!'' she exploded in a sob. Hannah stepped forward to hug her but she stepped back.  
''No Hannah you don't understand. But I do! I understand too much! It's too late for me, I can't fight it.''  
''Emily there's a way to get rid of her!''  
Who was she talking about? Hannah didn't know. She was conscious it was a vision, how could she speak as it was the first time while she had witnessed it already? It felt weird.  
''No! Hannah I love you! Much more than anyone on Earth, much more than myself. I saw how much you love Helen, how much alive you look and feel when you are with her, yet you're kind enough to still care for and love me, I know that, I know it would hurt you, but I have to go without you, because it's me, the changing factor you were looking for all those years, it's me! Each time I decided I had to go without you, you stopped dying! It's my fault, well... not really me, her!''  
''I won't let you go, Emily, I won't have you go, wherever you think you're going.''  
Emily suddenly put her hands on her ears and folded, falling on her knees. She screamed out of pain.  
''No!'' Hannah echoed her. She grasped her shoulders and made her stand. Emily opened her eyes to plunge into Hannah's. They were of the darkness of a Raven's colour. Their mother's. Emily slapped Hannah, making her let go. She stood up when Hannah was now on her knees.  
''You should not have fought it. You're strong, very strong. You could be useful. I've changed my mind. You're coming with me.''  
She grasped her hair and made her stand up. Not letting go of her hair, she pulled her onto the path, to the crossroad, and there they walked, together, as one, into the Forbidden Forest.  
''Hannah, sweetheart, can you hear me?''  
Hannah blinked several times before being able to see clearly. She was in professor Dumbledore's office and the old man was staring at her with kindness behind his glasses.  
''Where is Emily?''  
''She's downstairs, we didn't want her to come, you remember?'' her aunt answered. Hannah pushed her away and ran to the door. The door opened before her, she didn't mind, she rushed down the stairs and found her sister leaning against the wall. The face of her twin enlightened and both surprise and worry appeared.  
''Emily, promise me you won't leave! Ever!''  
Emily opened her eyes wide.  
''Why would I leave? Have you had a vision of me leaving? Leaving you, you mean?''  
''Yes! Please don't leave me, ever, promise!''  
''I wouldn't leave you but I will promise if it reassures you.''  
''Promise!''  
''I promise! I promise, Hannah, I will never leave you!''  
''And promise not to change your mind.''  
''Ok, I promise, I promise I will never leave you, nor change my mind. About leaving, I guess.''


	4. Time lapse

Aunt Cora asked to stay, professor Dumbledore agreed despite professor Snape's obvious discontentment. Emily was allowed to stay too. They walked to the infirmary. The girls had never been there before. Hannah recognised the room at once. The church-like room. She shivered. Her uncle Eddie was still holding her hand, he squeezed it, feeling something was scaring her. Was it the right decision? She wondered. Wasn't the vision about now?   
''Will you make a snake bite me?'' she asked.  
Professor Snape looked surprised.   
''No. You're going to drink snake's poison, and then an antidote. Several times. So that your body gets used to it.''  
''Not a lethal dose of poison,'' Aunt Cora added severely.  
He didn't answer. Hannah doubted. Was it the right thing to do? She was sure she had been bitten in the neck, like a vampire's bite. She sat on the bed the nurse pointed and looked up to freeze. There was a rose on the window.  
''Are there roses on all the windows?'' she asked.  
The nurse looked puzzled, she looked up and so did all the others.  
''On many of them, yes, why?''  
''Sweetheart, did you have a vision of now?'' Aunt Cora asked.  
''It was not now. It was... I'm sure it was after the graveyard. I'll come back here. But I'll die here.''  
''Well, we're changing that, right?''  
''It can be rewritten,'' Emily said. ''We can rewrite it! You used to say you die in the graveyard, now you don't! We're rewriting it!''  
Hannah was not sure. Professor Snape was handing two cups. He asked someone to hold her tight. He said it would feel horrible. She took the first cup. A white pasty liquid was in there. Poison. She heard her aunt hold her breath. She felt her uncle circle her with his arms. She saw fear in Emily's eyes.  
''I'm not leaving you,'' she mouthed in silence.  
Hannah tried to remember what she would say on the path. She talked about Helen. Which Helen? Helen Bell? And about someone else. Whom?  
She drank the poison. Or did someone make her drink it? She was frozen. She was freezing. It was dark. How long had it been dark around her, she couldn't tell. She couldn't feel her uncle's arms around her anymore, she couldn't hear people talking, she shouted for help.   
''Help! Help me!''  
She was back in the graveyard, mud on her cheek and water in her shoes. She was still wearing that uniform, Emily was not, she was wearing that long black skirt and Hannah could just see her back.  
''Why did we come here? Why did you bring me here?'' she asked.  
''I know this is the place the giant snake bites you to death,'' Emily answered. ''But we have rewritten that part of the vision, isn't it?''  
''I still have the vision of the giant snake.''  
''But you end up in Hogwarts's infirmary. We have rewritten history and we will keep rewriting it right now,'' Emily whispered.  
''I don't understand,'' Hannah said.  
''I've always listened carefully to the details. Details are so important. A glimpse can change everything,'' Emily carried on. ''You mentioned names.''  
She stepped to the left, revealing a tomb. Morfin was the name written on it. Hannah remembered that name. She turned around to face another tomb. Merope Gaunt was the name on it. The tomb she would lean against while the snake would be finding her. She tried to listen. She looked around in the darkness that the cloudy full moon did not light enough. No snake. No noise. Not even a owl, nor the wind.  
''Where are we? How can you know that place?''  
''I, myself, put that stone here to remind that little bastard who I am and who he is not, there's no corpse under it,'' Emily said between crisped jaws. It was not really like Emily's voice, Hannah thought. But she had no time to think of it, pain assaulted her and darkness swallowed her in a gulp. She screamed, asked for help again.   
''I think she's waking up,'' Hannah heard Emily say. Was it another dream? Was it a recollection of the past? She felt pull down into darkness again. She felt cold, then she felt too hot.   
''I'm not going back to class without my sister,'' she heard Emily again.  
''Hannah, wake up,'' she heard Emily whisper in that strange voice she had in the graveyard. ''Wake up, you're not dying here now, that's an order.''  
Mother? Was it her mother?

Hannah eventually woke up, weaker than an elder person. She stayed in bed for weeks before being able to go back to class.   
''How will we make up for lost time?'' Hannah asked. ''We've missed too many lessons.''  
Professor Dumbledore had that amused smile he often had. It meant he had an obvious answer but liked the puzzlement on his pupils' face. He took a necklace from a pocket. It was made of gold and Hannah glimpsed at a small hourglass. A detail. Details are important, she remembered.  
''What is it?'' Emily asked genuinely.  
''It's called a time turner. Time has rules. Since you are clever girls who already know a lot about time, and since you've been spending all your time in the infirmary I will only advise you not to hurt yourself.''  
''Does it bring us back in time?'' Hannah asked.  
''Yes. You started missing classes two months ago.''  
''I remember!'' Emily exclaimed. ''I remember seeing you in a corridor and thinking I was mad because I knew you were still in the infirmary! Oh my god! We're going to use it! It's already... written!''  
Professor Dumbledore smiled. Hannah tried not to think about what Emily had just said.  
''So no one would know we didn't attend lessons.''  
''You've already attended all of them.''  
The door opened on them. Emily and Hannah opened their mouth wide. They were standing there, books in their arms and embarrassment on their face.  
''Oops, too early! Sorry, we'll wait outside,'' Emily said, taking Hannah back to the corridor. The door closed and Emily and Hannah looked at each other.  
''Well then, any question?'' professor Dumbledore asked.  
They shook their head as one person and as soon as they had vanished from the office, he called for their future selves to come in. Emily gave the time turner back to their professor.  
''I must say it's a relief! It was quite hard to avoid myself! At least Hannah was always sleeping in the infirmary but me! I didn't know I could do so many things in such a small amount of time!'' Emily exclaimed.  
They sat in front of the desk and waited.  
''How do you feel?'' Professor Dumbledore asked to Hannah eventually.  
''Good. Relieved, too. Now everything's back to normal I guess.''  
''She hasn't had visions in two months, no more snake!''  
''It doesn't mean it won't happen,'' Hannah corrected her.  
''It means you may never have visions again! It means you may never worry again! Carpe Diem!''  
''That would be a relief, I must agree,'' Professor Dumbledore commented.   
It seemed Emily was right, visions didn't come back, time passed and the girls became famous for their role in the school choir. With Helen Bell, they would be an admired trio, Hannah with her cello, Emily with drums and the three of them singing. Even Slytherin students had to admit that was quite pleasant to hear music as Muggles play it, with no more magic than natural talent.


End file.
